Dress Code
Jun 09
I have a friend who is starting a church this fall in the metro Atlanta area. I have to say that when you begin a new church, for some reason, the religious freaks and nuts come out of the woodwork like a pack of sharks with the smell of blood!
He gets a phone call from a guys wanting to be a part of his team starting the church but he wanted to talk with him first about the “dress code”. He said something about giving God our “best”.Â
Excuse me while I rant! Since when did giving God our “best” become reduced to what we wear to church! Couldn’t giving God our best have something to do with our WHOLE LIFE, our character, sincere worship, loving people like Jesus, loving our family, managing our time and resources with faithfulness, being good neighbors, giving “Starbucks” gift cards to our pastors (o.k. so I digress, I got a little carried away there! Just checking to see if you were paying attention). Giving our “best” goes beyond our dress!
I hope you understand where I am going with this. There is a growing segment of our population that has never been connected to church or understood what it means to follow Jesus. Many of them remain disconnected BECAUSE so-called Christians have made the Christian life about dress and “church protocol”.Â
Check out this post from Eric Geiger as he eloborates on the issue. He is one of the authors of Simple Church, a book that has influenced Craig and I in starting CATG.Â
Enjoy!
What a lousy, thing to say on a church billboard! Apparently the pharisees are still alive, and kickin! What about the poor man who doesn’t own a suit? Is he not good enough to receive what Jesus has to offer? 1Samuel 16:7 says,”Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Since when does God care about what you have on! Adam, and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, and God was content to leave them that way until they sinned!(NO, I’M NOT SUGGESTING NUDITY AT CATG!)Let’s get real man! Time is to short, and there are to many people who don’t know Jesus!God wants us not our wardrobe!
Well spoken Chris. Those kind of churches are exactly why it took us so long to find a church. I don’t want to be judged by the the clothes on my back. I am blessed to be able to buy a dress and a suit but I don’t want that to be my access into church to learn the word of God. That’s why I love CATG so much!
I got an email sometime back about church sign sayings. The best one was…Wal-mart isn’t the only savings place.
I’ve enjoyed the casual look since 1997 when planting the first church. It was a relief to put away the ties and coats.
The dude in his boxers on the back porch is they way we’d all like to work if we could get away with it.
When I was a kid, the shoes were shined Saturday evening, and everything was laid out a ready to go for Sunday morning, meatloaf was in the oven when we left for Sunday School. Now at our house, 40 some years later, it all happens the hour before leaving and nothing is prepared ahead unless the crock pot is out. I like it that way.
I’m always intrigued that Conan wears a suit but the crowd is in shorts, halters, etc.
It seems to me that Sunday is a day of rest and if everybody has to dress up like they went to the office Monday, then where is the rest or change of pace. Then again, office decor in many places has gone the way of casual, so that’s fast becoming a non issue.
That church sign is a hoot and who would go to that church?
Yes, authenticity isn’t about outward apperance but inward honesty. That to me is the whole issue with the dress code thing. My Sunday best is clean hands and a pure heart 24/7 (a far greater task that panty hose, coats and ties!)